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A Record Breaking Year for Bacs

*Payments worth almost £5 trillion in 2016*

**6.22 billion transactions across the year**

***109 million transactions in just one day***

Almost six and a quarter billion payments worth a total of £4.8 trillion were processed by Bacs Payment Schemes Limited (Bacs) in yet another record breaking year for the company behind Direct Debit in the UK.

At the end of September 2016, a huge 109.3 million Direct Debits and Bacs Direct Credits passed through the system in a single day – that’s the equivalent of more than 7 million payments each hour the processing window was open (15.5 hours), or in excess of 117,000 per minute. That figure surpasses the previous daily high of 103.7 million transactions recorded only months earlier in 2016 (28 April).

Direct Debit grew by 4.9 per cent across the year, breaking the 4 billion barrier for the first time, with a total value of £1.3 trillion, while Bacs Direct Credit saw values increase by almost 5 per cent, to £3.5 trillion.

Michael Chambers, chief executive officer of Bacs, said: “Just three years away from Direct Debit’s 50 th anniversary, and we’re still seeing tremendous growth in use. This demonstrates the hugely important role Direct Debit still plays for consumers and businesses when it comes to paying those regular bills, and how it remains a payment option of choice for billers from all sectors.

“At a time when the UK payments industry is facing tremendous changes, this is a clear message that established payment methods are still firmly in favour with people and with businesses.”